A Whole New Kind of Scary
by Thepolymathwriter
Summary: On a road trip with her father, Annabeth Chase pulls into Bixby Oklahoma where she encounters a whole new world of midnight and a girl who also fills the "smart sidekick" role. A study of expanding upon a common archetype and developing character.


_**OOC: This right here is my pride and joy of recent fanfiction work. It's been a while since I've wrote anything, and a few days home sick with pneumonia seemed as good a reason as any to get back into it. I decided to make the chapters actually novel length to better work on developing a novel-length story .I had the idea for this when I realized how often a smart female sidekick archetype comes up in children's and teen fantasy. I figured I'd throw two of them together and be able to develop their characters beyond that mould. Also, Annabeth and Dess are literally two of my favourite fictional characters of all time and I always dreamed of putting them together. So enjoy! Also, I make no promises to ever finishing it, though I'll try. **_

The blazing empty dark plains of nothingness sped past the window of the tiny silver car as it made its way down a flat and empty gravel road. Seventeen year old Annabeth Chase sat watching field after field after field speed by in the blink of an eye, until they all seemed to blend together into one giant plain of empty. Man this place sucked. Here she was, demigod, daughter of Athena, official architect of , stuck on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere at almost midnight, road-tripping with a father she was pretty sure wished she'd never shown up on his doorstep. He'd shown his love for her at times, and even supported what she did at times, but Annabeth always got the impression that Dr. Chase would have been better off never having Annabeth and just marrying her now step-mom from the start. His life would sure be an underworld of a lot easier by now.

Annabeth really would love to say that she loved her father more than anything in the world, but she just can't. She does love him, and she'll say it any day. He is her father after all, and to most people that's the person who donated half of their DNA and determined their gender through little tiny sperm. To most people that's the person who taught them to throw a baseball or to drive a car. The person who was always there, watching over and guiding you. The shoulder to cry on after a bad breakup, the welcoming giver of a hug if you didn't get that scholarship. The constant force, the welcome and always there rock in a daughter's life. That's what father should be. Hades, that's what fathers are to most daughters. And Annabeth would never admit it aloud, but that's what she'd always wished her father had been to her, but never had.

"So where exactly are we going again?" Annabeth pulled her gaze away from the empty black fields of nothing and reluctantly faced her father, attempting conversation. The last few times in the past hours they'd tried talking, an awkward topic like her mother, or how she helped save the world, or anything else to remind Dr. Chase of how abnormal she actually was would pop up, and the conversation would die out.

"Nashville Tennessee eventually," he forced a smile, not taking his eyes from the empty road to face her. "But for right now we're cruising towards scenic Bixby Oklahoma."

Annabeth was pretty sure Bixby Oklahoma was not in direct line from San Francisco to Nashville, but she didn't question, she just sighed and resumed looking out the window. Her father was most likely lost, and she didn't want to agitate him. Lately he'd been a little off with her. After the incident with Atlas a couple of years ago, it seemed like he might have been ready to accept her fully for all she was. It was the first time in a long time that he'd stepped up and done something out of his norm for her, and it had felt amazing. She'd thought that maybe he did care about her after all. Just a few months ago though, just after the great battle, his perspective seemed to have changed. It was as if he didn't see her as his daughter anymore. Annabeth often worried that maybe he felt like she had connected even more with the demigod part of her life and had given up on trying to be human. That's how she always felt he looked at her now, inhuman. And coming from your own father that hurt.

As they crossed the town lines of Bixby, pulled off into a 24hr gas station and stopped to refuel, leaving Annabeth alone in the car. She took this chance to take in the general vibe of Bixby. A first nations man stood near the convenience store entrance, a trucker hat upon his head and one of those big 32 gallon water bottle used for those office coolers in his hand. A family of four was in the car next to her fathers, the baby screaming away while the mother tried to calm it. Didn't they realize that the middle of the night was not the time to take a family road trip? Her father should have realized that too and stopped a few hours back for sleep. Other than that there wasn't much there. There was a weird tingling sensation though. Something was off in Bixby, and Annabeth was tempted to get out of this car and go take a look around. She caught a quick glance at the gas tank meter on the dash, and for a moment wondered why her father had needed to stop in Bixby of all places if he still had 2/3s of a tank left. Annabeth didn't ponder it though; there were other things worth thinking about besides her father's choices. Her thoughts strayed to that weird feeling in her gut, like something was off. It was probably nothing though, nothing at all.

"In Bixby there doesn't seem to be anything worth feeling funny about," she said to herself and let her blond curled head bump against the window, sighing. Why had her father suggested such a trip as this? Why? He was the furthest thing from the kind of dad who wanted to bond with his daughter. At least not this daughter, at least not at this time. Annabeth allowed her analytical mind to think of any possible reason. Cruel punishment for never coming home all those years at camp? Well she couldn't come home. A way to salvage a claim to his oldest daughter now that she had actually done something worth noting? Well he couldn't even note that to his coffee buddies after all….Maybe, it was a way to salvage the part of her he really wished was all of her. To prove to her that Olympus was great, but America was better. Well, Annabeth knew where she was meant to be, and it was across a country and 600 floors away from Bixby Oklahoma.

Her father came back from filling up, settling down in the seat and finally looking at her. "Are you all right honey? I mean, I know this road trip isn't as exciting as battling Titans…." He trailed off awkwardly as he always did when talking about the gods.

"No, no Dad, it's fine," Annabeth did love her father, and she knew he at least thought he meant well with this whole thing. He just didn't understand that he'd given up on her so long ago, that she'd grown up a different person than he was. And to be honest, she didn't really mind. "It's just," she continued, "I've been in this hot sweaty car for hours, and I think I really need a walk or something…" She was just scrounging for a reason to get away with her own thoughts, and to make sure everything was all right. Bixby was sending some funky vibes.

"Well," he pondered, obviously looking for some sort of threat to a seventeen year old girl in walking around such a boring old town at night. Luckily if there was anything Annabeth had proven to her father it was that she could handle herself against most mortals. "I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to call and check in with your stepmother." Annabeth stifled an involuntary frown. "And who knows how long that'll take. Go on, don't get into no trouble, and when you're done with your walk, we'll go."

Annabeth smiled faintly, thanked him and stepped out of the car, not sure where to go. She started out of the gas station parking lot, high topped sneakers kicking up dust. She hadn't thought to bring much with her, just a small shoulder bag containing her most precious items. A small bronze knife, her Yankees cap, her wallet, Daedalus' laptop, a small pouch containing several golden drachmas and (though she'd never admit it) a few lock's of Percy's hair, neatly wrapped in the cling wrap you buy at grocery stores. Within five minutes of walking, she regretting not packing a water bottle. Bixby was hotter than Tartarus! Even at near midnight, it was hot, dry and dusty. Thankfully there were a few dim streetlights casting their haunting glow over the empty street so she didn't need a flashlight or anything. After walking about a block, Annabeth felt that weird vibe again. There couldn't be monsters here could there? She tensed, her senses going on high alert for trouble.

Things had seemed quiet since Kronos had been defeated. Well, if you would call it quiet when monsters weren't purposefully hunting her and her friends anymore. What would something want with her now? And in Bixby of all places? A twig cracked across the street, and Annabeth whirled around, knife drawn. Nothing there. Maybe she was just imagining things. This was Oklahoma, far from Olympus, far from the Underworld and far from anything important really. There shouldn't be anything remotely monster-like for miles and miles. But she couldn't shake the ever growing feeling that something was here. Something wasn't right.

Instinctively, she pulled out her hat, making sure no one was around before sliding it onto her head. At least nothing would be able to sneak up on her, because nothing would be able to see her. Just as she faded into invisibility, a girl rounded the corner ahead of her on a bike, whistling some disjointed tune as she peddled along.

The girl looked about her own age, though that's where the similarities stopped. While Annabeth wore simple jeans and a plain t-shirt, this girl was adorned in an ill-fitting black Goth dress with a leather jacket over top. Silver bangles glittered on her arms and ankles, falling around black sneakers. The girl's hair was short and dark, and it fell around her face in thin strands. Oddly enough, the girl wore sunglasses. Why in the world would someone need sunglasses this late at night? Annabeth watched the girl as she came to stop not 15 feet in front of her and looked up at the sky. Then the girl looked at her watch on her wrist, smiled and continued to look up at the sky as if she was waiting for someone or something.

Annabeth's curiosity grew, and she watched the girl. She wondered if maybe the harmless looking girl was something more. Didn't gods and monsters often wear sunglasses to cover up empty eye sockets or other abnormalities? Annabeth clutched her knife tighter, still watching the girl. Just then, something really weird (and Annabeth knew really weird) happened. Everything grew quiet, so quiet that Annabeth's breathing felt abnormally loud. The colour seemed to fade from the world, leaving everything eerily blue and purple. But weirdest of all, everything stopped. Like literally, everything stopped moving. The few trees stopped swaying in the wind. A car far down the street stopped moving instantly. It reminded Annabeth of Kronos and his scythe. Time had seemed to stop. Well, except for the girl on the bike. She breathed a sigh of joy and smiled up at the dark blue sky. Annabeth panicked for a moment…was this girl Kronos' new vessel as Luke had been?

Luke….just thinking of him made Annabeth weak at the knees. She wanted to be over him, she wanted to forget him. It was hard though. Painfully hard. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the moment. She'd been off edge lately, lulled into a false sense of security. If this girl was Kronos, or some form of him, this needed to be stopped. Thanking her mother for the Yankees cap, she slowly approached the girl from behind, trying to muffle her footsteps in the eerie silence. In a flash she pulled the girl into a headlock, holding her celestial bronze dagger with its point almost touching the girl's neck. The girl tried to scream, but Annabeth held her other hand over her mouth. She shook her own head, letting the Yankees cap fall to the ground and making herself visible. The girl stopped trying to scream for a moment, and Annabeth took the chance to rip her sunglasses from her face, revealing terrified, frantic, human eyes. "Damn it," she said softly and then swore in ancient Greek, dropping the dagger and backing away from the girl. OOps.

"What the-" the girl started to scream at Annabeth, rubbing her neck where the dagger had almost touched her (though Annabeth now knew it would pass right through the human girl) Then the girl stopped as if she were seeing Annabeth for the first time and her face lit up. "Wait a second…you're here. You're here! How are you here? It must mean…There's someone else! Wait til Rex hears this! That'll put his little Seer ass back in its place. Look at me, I found a newbie. Suck it Rex." The girl continued to mumble on to herself and smile with glee. Then she looked back up at Annabeth.

"Wait, why were you trying to kill me, and who are you?" she asked, pointing a finger at the dagger lying on the road. Annabeth snatched up her Yankees cap and took a step back.

"I-I wasn't trying to kill you."

"Oh really? And what's this then?" The girl picked up Annabeth's dagger and rolled it gently between her fingers.

"It won't hurt you," Annabeth replied, stepping towards the girl. She seemed pretty harmless, and maybe she knew what was going on with the whole time-stopping thing. It was best to tell the truth as much as she could.

"Oh really?" Obviously the girl was sceptical. She held the dagger in one hand and softly slid a finger across the point of its blade. The tip seemed to pass right through her finger without a trace. The girl's eyes widened and she pushed her finger against the tip with more force, and it passed through the entire blade. She gasped in awe. "Wow," she said softly, "what's this thing made of? "

"None of your business," Annabeth calmly but forcefully took the dagger back. And turned away from the girl.

"Can it hurt anyone?"

"Pardon?"

"I said," the girl continued, "can it hurt anyone or is it like a phantom knife?"

"It's harmless to mortals if that's what you want to know," Annabeth said sternly, "now it's my turn for a question. Who in Hades are you and what in Zeus' name is going on right now?"

The girl smiled as if Annabeth had touched upon her favourite topic. "My name, is Desdemona, but call me that and I'm going to have to see if that pretty little knife of yours works on you. I go by Dess. I'm 16 years old, a junior at Bixby high and obviously a little off-beat. As for this, this is midnight. The exact instant, stopped for an hour with only a select few able to walk the blue time. Everyone else is frozen and to them, midnight passes in the blink of an eye. The few of us who walk it, we call ourselves midnighters. It's a loose term, but under many standards, we would be described as special. Some can fly; some can read minds, while others see what no one else can. Getting freaky yet?" Dess smiled as if this was the greatest reveal of history and Annabeth would break down at her feet for enlightening her. Annabeth knew though it wasn't that dramatic. She'd seen enough freakier things in her life to take this one to be true and easy to accept. That's where a logical mind came in handy.

"You'd be surprised at the freaky factor of the world I live in, this is nothing," Annabeth returned Dess' smile.

"Oh really? Well apparently this world is now partly yours too. Surprised?" This girl seemed to think she was so smart, asking question to which she already knew the answers. Well Annabeth had answers.

"Well, I best give a little introduction as well," she smiled, "My name is Annabeth Chase. I'm 17 years old, and originally I'm from San Francisco, but I spent more of my life in New York. I'm what you'd call a half-blood. It's a loose term, but under many standards, people like me would be described as special." She couldn't help but chuckle at her own clever reuse of Dess' introduction. "Some can control water, some can turn invisible, and some are the best metalsmithes since Hephaestus himself. My father's name is Robert Chase, and he's human as can be. But my mother is most often known as Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Because you see Dess, half-bloods are half human, half god. And that's what some people might call special." Annabeth couldn't help but be a little smug as she finished and watch the shock roll over Dess' face.

"Prove it. This," the other girl motioned to the blue world around them, "this is real. Easy proof. Greek gods and goddesses? Those are myths."

"Only myths?" Annabeth said, holding up her Yankees cap and putting it on her head, feeling invisibility take her. She continued to speak though. "This hat was a gift from my mother. Is me being invisible only a myth?" She pulled off the hat and hastily stuffed it in her pocket. Then she held up the dagger, her voice rising in volume "This dagger is made of celestial bronze. It cannot harm mortal humans, only gods, monsters, and half-bloods." She winced as she drew the dagger across her palm, letting Dess see the red blood bead out and then be bleached blue in the midnight glow. "Is that a myth? That's the thing Dess. They aren't myths, they're real. Just like this blue time or whatever. Who knows, our worlds are probably connected in some way or another." By then she was nearly shouting, and she took several deep breaths to calm her pounding heartbeat.

"So all of those myths are true?" Dess said softly.

"Every last one," Annabeth replied, "and time is actually stopped right now. Why can we move then?"

Dess perked up again as the topic moved back to something she was obviously familiar with. "The people who can see midnight were all born at its exact instant. I don't have the exact time down, but it's most likely within a second of midnight itself. And so far we've found that it only happens in Bixby."

Annabeth's brow furrowed. "You see though, I wasn't-um-born in the traditional sense. It's a complicated thing, but let's just say there wasn't an exact time I was born."

"Really!" Dess seemed more intrigued than freaked out. "Rex would be thrilled to hear about that! Maybe it has something to do with you being a, whatever you are."

"Half-blood."

"Right, a half-blood."

"Or demi-god if you prefer. Or godling," Annabeth continued, "We have a lot of names."

"That's actually pretty cool," Dess smiled, "so do you have like godly powers or something? Could you strike me down with a lightning bolt?"

"I wish!" Annabeth laughed, feeling more at ease that that she had some idea of what was going on "no, we all just have really good reflexes and battle skills. We're all dyslexic because our brains are built to read ancient Greek. And we have attributes of our godly parent. For example, I'm a logical thinker who relies on wit and wisdom to solve problems. Children of Athena are usually intelligent, collected, and strategists. I kind of look like her too, with the blond hair and grey eyes. My friend Percy is a son of Poseidon, and because Poseidon's so powerful, Percy is too compared to most demi-gods. He can control water, and is healed by it and tons of other stuff. We all have our talents." Talking about Percy made Annabeth miss him even more. She and him had just started a relationship, and then her father and sprung this gods-forsaken road trip.

"That's pretty cool actually," Dess replied, "midnighters have talents too besides actually like being in midnight. Like me, I'm a polymath."

"Multi-talented?" Annabeth interrupted, instinctively translating the Greek.

"Not in this context," Dess continued, "polymaths are numbers people. We excel in mathematics and logic to the highest extent. I've been doing my parents taxes since I was 7. We also pride ourselves in being able to easily spot tridecalogisms, or 13 letter words, which in the midnight hour, are extremely powerful. Along with that comes skill with metal and making and naming weapons. We find patterns, make strategies, and figure things out. We are the brains of the operation, much like you said you were. Maybe we might even get along." Dess smirked.

Annabeth contained a smile. "Why would you need weapons if everything's stopped?"

"Do you demi-gods ever have to deal with monsters?" Dess asked softly, in a serious tone.

"A few."

"Well we've got our own. Darklings, they're called. Literally nightmares come to life. You afraid of snakes, wolves or spiders? Whatever it is you most fear they take its shape. There ain't much to eat when everything's frozen, so they find midnighters quite tasteful. We need to defend ourselves."

Annabeth cautiously looked around, ready for a giant spider to spring out of nowhere.

"You probably don't need to worry bout them much anymore. Long story that we'll get to another day. Speaking of which, how long are you in town for?" Dess asked.

"Like 15 minutes," Annabeth sighed, "my dad stopped for a gas refill, I took a walk and here I am. He'll expect me back eventually." She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the idea of leaving this oddly wonderful new world.

"That kind of sucks. You probably really could have helped us."

Annabeth sighed again. "I know, and I'd love to find out more about this place, maybe find some links to the world I come from. It would be great to bring back my findings to Olympus."

"Olympus is actually a place?" Dess' eyes widened in interest.

"Oh yes. Well, since the war it's kind of in bad shape. That's my job, to redesign and help rebuild it," Annabeth said smugly, proud of her position.

"That's really cool!" Dess answered, "An architect! You would be useful for us…" Just as she trailed off, the blue began to seep from the world, and colour returned. It was like a wave, and in an instant everything had returned to normal. The trees started to move again, the car down the street continued to drive as if nothing had occurred, and a crow flew off silhouetted in the distance." Wow, I really wasn't watching the time. I need to get home. Anyways, if you do decide to stay in town, meet me at the Bixby library tomorrow at noon. We'll talk some more and see if we can figure out why you're here." And with a wave, Dess remounted her bike and started to pedal back the way she had come from.

Annabeth sighed again. She really wanted to stay in Bixby, to learn about this blue time and Dess and the other midnighters. (Was that what they called themselves?) The curious part of her brain told her to go for it. A learning opportunity like this wouldn't come up again, and she'd spend her life wondering what had happened to Bixby. Also, as much as the idea of monsters repelled her, she hadn't had the chance to fight in months and it would be good to keep in shape right? Then again, her father would be disappointed in her again, and she'd just kind of abandon him…..

With a turn back towards the gas station, Annabeth decided. Her father could wait, she'd see him again. A chance like this though, it would never happen again. She marched determinedly back to the little silver car and paused outside the driver's side door. Her father sat there, calmly reading a book. As he saw her, he rolled down his window.

"Did you have a nice walk?"

"Dad, I-I think I need to stay here. In Bixby for a while. Something's come up."

Dr. Chase's brow furrowed. "What honey? Is it," he paused and beckoned for her to lean in closer, "demi-god business?" He said softly.

Annabeth hesitated, and then nodded slowly. Her father sighed and looked around as if assessing Bixby.

"Well I can't really stop you now can I?" Dr. Chase attempted a smile, "Go do what you need to do and call me when it's all sorted out. I'll come pick you up." He handed her a small wad of money.

Annabeth was surprised at how easy that was, she smiled and bent down, lightly kissing her father on the cheek. "Thanks dad. I do love you." She said it more to reassure herself than him though. "I'll be safe."

"Good luck," he smiled and gave a little wave, "do your mother proud."

Her breath caught in her throat, and Annabeth only managed a stiff nod before turning to leave. She started to walkout of the parking lot, kicking up dust as she went.

"Bixby, here I come," she said softly, but her father's sweet smile lingered at the back of her mind.


End file.
